Fuad Dapo Sule (born 20 January 1997) is an Irish-Nigerian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

holding midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

Early life

Born in

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...

, Nigeria, Sule moved to the Citywest area of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

aged three. He was in the academy at Crumlin United before joining

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

aged 16.

Career

Sule joined

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origin ...

in July 2014. He made his debut for the first team on the final day of the 2016 season against

Derry City Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

. This was his only appearance for the Saints before joining

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

in December 2016. Sule won the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

player of the month for July 2017. Sule won the Player of the Year award for Bohemians and the League of Ireland Young Player of the Year award for 2017. His transfer to

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

went through on 1 January 2018 for an undisclosed fee. Sule made his debut as a substitute against Crawley Town on 13 January 2018, but made no further appearances for the Bees for the rest of the season and joined NIFL Championship side

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight Roll-on/ro ...

on loan on 3 September 2018. Sule joined Larne permanently on a two-and-a-half year deal on 31 January 2019. He received the club's most man of the match awards in the 2018–19 season and established himself as a firm fans favourite with his all action style. Sule left Larne at the end of the 2022-23 season after turning down a new contract. He made 185 appearances in all competitions before departing. On July 8 2023, it was announced that Sule had signed for

’s Irish League rival,

Style of play

Sule played as a striker and attacking midfielder as a schoolboy, before switching to a defensive midfield role at St Pat's. His style of play been compared to

N'Golo Kanté N'Golo Kanté (born 29 March 1991) is a French professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club Chelsea and the France national team. Considered by many to be one of the world's best midfielders, Kanté is widely praised ...

Personal life

Sule's brother Ajibola (born 1992) is also a footballer, having played for Shelbourne and Cabinteely, as well as his cousin Ismahil Akinade who has played in the League of Ireland, as well as

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Career statistics

Honours

Larne * NIFL Championship: 2018-19 *

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Foo ...

: (3) 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 *

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

: 2022-23 Individual * NIFL Championship Team of the Year 2018-19 * League of Ireland Player of the Month: July 2017

References

External links

Fuad Sule
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sule, Fuad 1997 births Living people Footballers from Ibadan Association footballers from Dublin (city) Nigerian men's footballers Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Nigerian emigrants to Ireland Men's association football midfielders Crumlin United F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Bohemian F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Larne F.C. players League of Ireland players English Football League players NIFL Premiership players Expatriate men's footballers in England Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Black Irish sportspeople Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in England Glentoran F.C. players